


Solitaire

by Severina



Category: Young Riders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-10-01
Updated: 2006-10-01
Packaged: 2017-10-23 03:28:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/245792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severina/pseuds/Severina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His grimy fingernails tap tap tap on the final card before he finally turns it over.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Solitaire

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Raye. So glad to have her in my life.

The chair is rough-hewn and the whiskey is second-rate, which makes the saloon no different than the dozens of others he‘s frequented. A hundred now? He used to keep track, but lost count when he switched off from sarsaparilla to watered-down beer.

He keeps his back to the wall, always.

He glances up indifferently when the soldiers, fools all, swagger their way into the bar. He doesn’t want to remember but idiots like that make it hard to forget. And word of Cody’s exploits filter through to even the most desolate of places.

The saloon girl slides her hip against his arm as she refills his glass, and leans down to give him a view of her assets, such as they are. Her shift is stained but her hair is clean, long and thick and her pride and joy, and he could have her -- has had her -- for less than the cost of the bar’s worst whiskey.

He draws another card -- The Queen -- and the anger rises in him without warning. He pushes her aside and ignores her over-exaggerated squeal of protest, ignores the warning look shot to him from the boys playing soldier, downs his beer and closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

He smells fresh hay and sweet shampoo. Licks pure spring water from his lips. Sees Lou in her blue dress, shining, always shining, and his arm is warm around her waist, and she is laughing, spinning in his embrace...

Jimmy opens his eyes and the waitress has stepped back to the bar, and a cloud of dust hangs in the air, and the beer tastes like ash on his tongue.

His grimy fingernails tap tap tap on the final card before he finally turns it over.

The Joker.


End file.
